Grandline Physics
by wispie
Summary: What good was it to understand the laws of physics in a world where people could start defying them after they ate some weird fruit? Absolutely none, Nova thought, finished her share of booze and went back to hiding from a certain first commander, who hadn't appreciated her raiding their alcohol stock.
1. Pipscreek's Alien 1

Yes! As you've noticed, my earlier story remains unfinished. I'm trying to rewrite it, but we'll see what I'll get done and when!  
For this project, I have a lot written and planned out, but I still can't promise it will be finished 100% and especially I can't say when. I think I'll try to update once a month or something. But as it seems, One Piece is a story I come back to again and again so maybe I'll get this done sometime.

I've always really liked the fanfictions with original character more than the one's with canon characters. I think it takes more skill to add a new character than to loan the existing ones. There is bad and good ones in both categories however, but somehow for me the ones with oc's are more interesting. I've been feeling like starting an oc falls to One Piece World -type of a story for a few times - it has been rather popular, however it's a type hard to handle. Too hard maybe, but at least I'm practising my english (I'm not a native speaker) so sorry for my mistakes beforehand.

But who really cares about my ramblings? Go on and read! The first chapter is so short but the rest will probably be longer.

One Piece and it's characters belong to Eiichiro Oda. My oc's belong to me, but really feel free to use them if you wish, I don't care.

* * *

**Pipscreeks's Alien, Part 1**

I held the physics book in my hand, glaring at it as if it could turn into something actually useful if I tried hard enough. It did no. I was just wasting my time, looking like I was not right in the head. I didn't really care what the people passing by thought about my shady appearance anymore, I had stayed in the town long enough for them to understand that I really was not right in the head. So they didn't stop me from staring at the book.

Finally, after a long time of stagnation I started flipping through the pages. Electricity… All kinds of forces like gravitation… Different kind of examples… And for the last, the list of chemical elements. Some of the pages were filled with rushed sketches I had made back in school, most were empty. I had never really paid attention in the physics class, that's why it was in my bag in the first place – I was supposed to go ask for help with the homework. Kind of sad really, I was already over twenty years old and I always had to ask for help from my younger brother. I just wasn't good with subjects like these.

None if that really mattered right now. I flipped through the pages again. What good was it to understand which way electricity worked in a world where no one used it? What good was it to understand the laws of physics in a world where people could start defying them after they ate some weird fruit? Absolutely none. No one even wanted to buy the book despite my emphasizing its otherworldly subjects. They just listened silently to me talking how it was from another world and then gave me something to eat out of pity, shaking their heads at my poor state. I was basically dependent on their mercy, so slowly I gave up on trying to sell the book for money and tried to bother the citizens as little as possible.

But things were hardly in my control. I was too filled with anger and sadness which came with the feeling things happening to me were terribly unjustified and too much for me to handle. I was never too good with handling my emotions, but this much overload would've made anyone crazy. So I did what any idiotic person would do when they had too much feels – I drank. I drank anything I could get my hands on, until I've passed out. I hardly ever had any hangovers back at home, but the effects of constant drinking were starting to wear me off.

No wonder the people here gave me food out of pity. I was a homeless drunkard with pretty serious mental problems.

I had been drinking for a time that felt like a month, but it could be just me being drunk. I couldn't estimate the time too well. But today I got banned out of the last bar of the island. They realized I had no intention nor the ability to pay for the booze I've consumed. I tried to look around the island for someone who had brewed moonshine, but it seemed there was nobody. I was left in very desperate state, so I sat down with an empty heart and went through my stuff once again.

I had a sketchbook, the only good way I could express my feelings but right now – or well, the past month or so – I couldn't even draw much. There were only a few more anxious sketches after the ones I drew back home. Then there was my pencil case, and I wasn't yet that much addicted I would've sold my most important belongings. Good pens were expensive and at least on this island there were none of those. There was also my phone. I turned it on, there were still too block of battery, so there was probably another month or something like that to go. Thank god I had my old phone, the battery last much longer.

However, there still wasn't once again any blocks for the network. I still tried to send a message for my parents but it didn't get through. Even on the highest point of the island there was only one block but still the messages wouldn't get through. I grimaced, biting my lip to hold in the tears. I really, really wanted to go home.

But since I couldn't get home, I really, really needed more booze.


	2. Pipscreek's Alien 2

_Hi peeps. _

_Thanks to the reviewers, __**Amorphous Sapphire**__, __**Shiningheart of ThunderClan**__ and __**XxFire-PhoenixxX**__, your questions make me always improve on my writing also thank you everyone who followed my story. I hope I can make this story interesting till the end for all of you._

* * *

At the end of the day I still hadn't got any luckier, it seemed there really wasn't anyone who wanted to share their alcoholic drinks with me for free. It wasn't really for free, they could consider my weird ass stories a payment I guess, but it didn't really warm them up any more. Stupid stingy dickheads, I cursed at them, immediately regretting a bit. They were kind people and they were just trying to put up with my shit and actually trying to cure my alcoholism, but I couldn't even bring myself to apologize so instead I just curse some more but at myself.

Besides addictions like mine can't be cured without me actually wanting to do it – though it's not like I honestly wanted to be a loser sleeping on the park bench. I just didn't want to be here at all and no one was able to help with that, so I helped myself to forget with alcohol.

No wonder they thought I had mental issues.

I moved on from finding alcohol to finding shelter for the night. I had been sleeping here and there for the whole time, sometimes this really nice lady a bit older than me let me sleep and shower at her house but I had been too drunk to remember where exactly had she lived and now that I was sober, I felt like going to her house would be too intrusive. I had been sleeping under a bridge but it was surprisingly worse than a park bench. So I settled for the bench.

Some might say it's nicer to sleep under a bridge, since there's more shelter and it's more peaceful, but I can assure you it's not. Other than it's cold, worst of all it's often foggier in the morning, it's really hidden. If someone attacks you under a bridge, it might take longer for anyone to find you. I'm telling this out of experience, some other crazy ass drunkard tried to shove me into the river one night. So the park is better. All I have to do is find a lot of newspapers, maybe a cardboard box and it'll be relatively warm – I had gotten used to being cold - and it'll last through the night unless it's pouring.

Getting the resources is pretty easy, since the townspeople have these recycling centers just like back in home where they leave their trash. Neat people. Actually, the recycling paper bin is the best place to sleep in, but just as usual I'm too late and there's already someone else. Out of these 15 homeless persons living in the town I'm almost always the last one. But I took the stuff I need, they won't be bothered – there's a rule between us homeless and that is if you get the paper bin, you share the paper anyway.

I dragged my stuff to the park, found the most comfortable bench and built myself a little nest I sneak into, trying to catch a few hours of sleep. This was a bad day, but tomorrow won't be any better if I don't get any sleep. The alcohol addiction reminded of itself and I got disturbing hallucinations about home, this place, and the foggy time in between.

I woke in the middle of the night. My sleeping was always restless. I listened to the sounds carefully, but nothing seemed out of the norm. And even if it was, no one is interested in the homeless drunkard sleeping on the bench. The park was calm, there was some animal sounds but calm nevertheless. Only some policemen have ever woke me up in here, and they had took me into the drunk tank few times, which is actually a pleasure since it warm in there.

I tried to go back to sleep, but it seemed that the light post prevented me from falling asleep. Maybe this wasn't the most comfortable bench in here. I read the newspapers I've curled into, with very little focus, my only goal was to bore myself to sleep.

But the headlines shocked me. Well, they have shocked me every time I got into this world.  
_'The Ice Witch is rumored to ally Whitebeard! What will happen to Samhara Island? p. 8'_ I looked at the picture which actually consisted of two pictures, the other showing the beautiful Whitey Bay in all her glory and in the other there was Whitebeard himself, none other than the first commander Marco by his side.

Yup, at least I was on a timeline way before the war at the Marineford. But how many years I couldn't really tell. From these pirate groups that appeared in the headlines most familiar to me were the Whitebeard pirates. Even if Luffy had already began his journey, it would take time for him to reach to the articles in global newspapers. Well, I had all the time in this world to wait until I could watch his journey from the side, as it seemed that I wouldn't be getting home anyway. The only thing I could spend my life was to drink until I died so it would be probably just nice to watch Luffy conquer the seas.

I didn't know when had I fallen asleep but the morning eventually came.  
"Alien-san. How are you doing?" The policeman shook me up lightly, with a soft voice. He was being exceptionally considerate, since I was still definitively feeling the effects of drinking so long. My head ached.  
"Still alive", I nodded, not really even getting angered by the nickname. At first, it seemed like an insult. I certainly hadn't felt like I was an alien, they were just offensive bastards who didn't understand my agony, my need to get back to home which was in another world. Later I realized it was probably fitting from their point of view and well, these days I did feel like I was an alien who did not quite belong here. Besides, they weren't – usually – calling me that intending to be rude. Most didn't know my name and didn't really want talk to me anyway.  
"Good, good. I do not wish to preach, but you're still young, you have the whole world in your hands – There's a saying that goes: The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams." He said. I feel like I have heard that quote from someone before back in my old life, but I couldn't recall when or where. It didn't feel like he was preaching. I pondered the words on my mind, but I couldn't take them into my heart. I had dreams but they were located in my world, not in this hell pit. I knew One Piece world was always about the dreams at least in the manga. How ironic I had to fall in, ruining my dreams in the process!  
"Thank you, Mr. Police", I said, not knowing how exactly to address him but not caring too much to ask. My head was starting to ache awful lot.  
"It's alright. I hope you get better", he said and continued his walk in the park. I nodded at him. When he had walked further I could perhaps cry a little and go on with my other morning customs.

Man, I knew I was a mess but yet there was nothing I could do.

It was so unfair. Life I mean. I know, who doesn't dream of visiting the world of One Piece? But the key word is visiting. For the first few days I too had been excited out of my mind to be in here. But then few days passed and I realized I had no way of getting back home. It was devastating. Out of all the miserable people in the so-called-real-world (this felt all too real to me mind you) I was casted into this world. I, who already had pretty much everything I wished for in my world. I had parents I loves really much despite the childhood traumas – let's not go there – siblings, good friends even though we rarely met because there simply wasn't enough time and we lived far away, I had a profession, even a boyfriend although our relationship was stale, and most importantly; I had a dream of being a comic artist even though I was a tad too lazy for getting shit done. I wasn't even rich or famous but I enjoyed my life nevertheless. I never even made a cliché wish about getting into this world, so why in the world did the gods above decide to torture me like this?

I once again recalled the memories how I had fell into here. Long story short: I was complementing my studies and improving my grades in a school. Though in reality I was just drawing comics but it was a good excuse. I was going to be late from a test but I decided to go from the back door, but somehow I ended up opening up the wrong mystery door which looked normal and all, but when I walked through it I ended up flying through the sky and sinking into the water. I nearly drowned, but the local fishermen saved me and brought me onto this island.

The more I think about it, the crazier I get so that's why the alcohol is needed. I couldn't really understand how did I get here, but most importantly how could I read from this world from a manga? Perhaps Eiichiro Oda was a visitor of this place in the future – in the future of this world, yet in the past of my world.

I stand up, stretching my sore back. I don't think the bars will let me in and even less likely it is that they would let me drink with a poor excuse that I'll pay later so I might as well lay low for a while and do something else. Doesn't mean I'm giving up booze. No way mate, I'll be looking for it. I haven't yet gone as far as stealing something more than a fruit here and there, but maybe I will have to. But I'm not that down yet, the first time I really harm someone more than making them feel incredibly awkward I'm going to face a lot of hate, and that's not what I want. It would make things so much worse and I'm not yet that self-destructive. Rather than being killed by the townspeople I'd rather kill myself slowly with alcohol.

I headed towards the east market place, there was some sellers that were wealthy enough to be nice to the kinds of myself. Their leftovers was pretty much all the social security they had in here. At mornings there was always a lot of people, but they usually gave me a lot of space. Who knew if it was because I smelled bad, I had always had a bad sense of smell and I got used to it, too. But it had only been two days the last time I washed myself in the river so I guess it was just me being creepy.

I decided to sit on a bench nearby the playground and wait until the most of the traffic was gone. After the sellers got the income they needed to make it and started making profit, they were much kinder.

I must have been quite the creep watching the children play, but looking at them go was oddly comforting. Children were the same. They did have a different environment but still, their plays were pretty much the same. There was a slide on the playground, whom the smaller kiddos slid down but all the children over 7 or so ran to the slide and tried their best to get all the way up. I did that too when I was younger.

There was a group of two girls and one boy in the monkey bars, the other girl braver than the other two was easily clinging to the bars upside down. The boy watched in awe and was about to try it too.  
"Kojo, you can't do that this high at the first time. If you fall you'll break your neck!" The other girl successfully threatened the boy and they moved towards the lower bar to practice. I smiled at them, if the trio would've been me and my siblings, the brave girl would've been my big sister and the boy my younger brother, and the girl who didn't do the trick but watched out happily when other did it would be me.

I glanced back at the market. There was, if possible even more people than before. I pulled my sketchbook out of my back bag and tried to muster out something. I could hardly focus, my attention span had gotten shorten from the drinking but I looked back at the children and suddenly, the inspiration struck me like the good old times. I hesitated a little, what if the inspiration dies down before I finish anything? But then I just started and for good fifteen minutes I felt alive again.

"Hey, it's the Alien!" The brave, raven haired girl spotted me and ran towards me. The boy soon came to my side and hopped on the bench.  
"Do you draw?" He asked. I simply nodded and frowned looking at the murderous glares from the mothers who were watching the children play. They thought of me as a threat which was totally justified, for weeks I hadn't been anything else. I'm not exceptionally aggressive when drunk, just careless and sometimes when the frustration build high I would curse and shout, maybe even scream at people now matter the age.  
"What did you draw?" The dark haired girl asked but didn't wait for me to show her, she just took a peek herself. The other girl with slightly lighter hair was still watching me from a distance, but slowly tiptoed behind her friend. I turned the book around in my hands and showed them the drawing, which looked really half assed compared to the older drawings but better than I had done in a while.  
"Is that me?" The girl watching from the sides got excited, too.  
"Yeah, I drew you guys."  
"I don't smile like that!" the boy said but giggled happily while pointing at the drawing. I frowned and looked at the drawing critically. It was clear there was a slight remembrance of the young boy but his mouth looked off. I got discouraged by children, pretty embarrassing but like I had said, I was a mess.  
"That's true. Well, that's the best I could do right now", I was about to put the sketchbook back to the bag.  
"It's still cool!" The more outgoing girl said and gave me thumbs up.

"Can we have it?" The other girl said shyly. I thought it for a while, but then came to a conclusion that the picture would probably give them more happiness than to me. I was a hopeless case anyway and I didn't really know was there any reason to store my drawings in my new life, so I just ripped the page off.  
"Sure, take good care of it", I said and watched them run towards their mother to show the picture. I couldn't read from the woman's face if she liked it or not.

I suddenly felt very empty once again and craved for alcohol. Or food. Maybe more alcohol, but I guess the food was more important. I strolled back to the market area as there was a bit more space to walk in and came to a familiar stall.

"Good morning Nana-san", I greeted the older woman politely. She seemed to be oddly humored by my politeness.  
"What is it today, Alien-chan? I sense a slight difference in ya… Ya didn't proceed to using drugs did ya?" She questioned humorously. She had this very down to earth –aura that made me like her more than rest of the sellers. Somehow I had got the idea that she liked me more than rest of the beggars, too.  
"No, even if I wanted I'm afraid I couldn't find any on this island. I'm just sober", I said, trying to smile so the humorous tone would come across but faces like that seemed too hard for me to do.  
"Sober? So the bars won't give ya any more drinks?" She laughed the good willed laugh she had.  
"I'm afraid so. I guess I need to do something else then", I said and tried to reassure her that the something else isn't anything harmful or illegal.  
"Well then, maybe I should reward your sobriety", Nana said and disappeared behind the stall. I snatched a few berries out of the boxes in the meantime.  
"Here's a gift for ya. Don't think too highly of me though, this something my grandma gave to me but it didn't fit", she handed me something warm and cozy. I fumbled the knitted fabric in my hands, it was probably woolly.  
"Try it on!" She said before a few real customers came to the stall so she served them.

I pulled on the shirt and felt a rare feeling of warmness not only in my body but in my heart. She was so kind to me even though I had been nothing but a pain in the ass for the whole city. I kept on fumbling the beautiful knit work. It was just like my grandmother used to do…

When Nana turned back to me I was already crumbling down in tears.  
"Darling why are ya crying?" She looked just as shocked as I was. It hadn't cried like this in a while.  
"…You're so kind…!" I said between the sniffles and tried to contain myself with no visible success.  
"Oi, oi girl. It's not that kind as ya think, I just gave ya something that would've been thrown away!"  
"…I'm sooooorryyyy…!" I wanted to apologize for crying like a fool and making her feel uncomfortable, but she shushed me.  
"Don't be! Ya know, the priest downtown has organized a breakfast for ya homeless people on Sundays. Ya should go there to eat, I've got still lots to do here." She pointed me to the right direction. I took a step to that direction, but then turned on my heels and bowed deeply.  
"Nana-san! Thank you!" I said it from the bottom of my heart.

* * *

_Well well... I decided to update already, since this chapter is pretty mundane, not much going, just getting to know the character and the world better. In the next chapter things will finally start finally happening! We might even get to see the Whitebeard pirates, yay! I dunno when I'll update next time, though. I want to get this "arc" finished before it, and it's about halfway done. _


	3. Pipscreek's Alien 3

Two days before, on a neighboring island, a small group of pirates were facing a problem.  
"Whose job was it to take care of the booze again, Marco?" Thatch jabbed his finger against the commander's tattooed chest, who growled in annoyance. Marco was usually easygoing, or so he thought but he was easily aggravated when people questioned his ways.  
"Oi! You're not blaming me are you?"  
"Just curiously asking how the heck they disappeared when you were left in charge." The two commanders argued on the street.

The townspeople avoided the place, only the brave or stupid ones stared at them openly. They weren't aggressive towards strangers if they didn't cross with them, but who knew when they would start fighting among themselves? Then it was no longer safe to be around them. There were rumors the last island they were at an unlucky guy got caught up in crossfire and got a flying sword between his shoulder blades, just by walking past them at a wrong time. Who wanted to die like that? Though the truth about the event was that the poor guy was saved by the crew's doctor and recovered quickly, but it didn't stop the rumors from spreading. The newspapers never did forget to mention all the damages done to the places they visited on, it was more than half of the islands they happened to burn down houses or just destroy buildings, accidentally or not. Instead, forgotten were the times they helped rebuild the islands. Their good qualities were mostly shunned by the mainstream newspapers.

"I told Jico to look after them", the blonde man said and the two commanders turned their judging stare at the man named Jico, who carried a long bo staff with him.  
"I told Cavada to look after them!" The group's attention shifted to yet another man.  
"I told Sal to look after it."  
"I couldn't so I said Molly should look after it."  
"I was busy so I told Eric to watch it properly!"  
"I thought you talked to Derrick."  
"I said I couldn't but you were on your way already." The eyes were now glued at Molly.  
"Molly, how could you?" Thatch gasped in shock.  
"Oh give me a break! I needed to go to the toilet since you gave me that food that made me stomach upset!" The men's disappointed stares shifted to the fourth commander, who rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. It even looked like his pompadour flattened in shame.

"In the end it was you, yoi."  
"You can't blame me for that. How could I know they put something in the food?" He muttered.  
"It's your responsibility to protect your division from things like that!" Sal was ready to defend the woman, even though from the crew the person he most argued with was Molly. It was a brotherly – or should it be said siblingly rivalry between them, against others they always seemed to stick together.

"Anyway, what's most important is that we find the culprits, the ones who stole the box!" Marco announced. They huffed, getting angry about thinking that someone dared to steal from them 12 special rum bottles that had aged for 12 years? Who was so evil? The rare kind of rum was produced only in here, and it was said to have incredible restorative powers. For the next ratio they would have to wait a year. Their captain, the infamous Edward Newgate enjoyed it a lot and the rest would've liked to have a taste of it too.

"Are you looking for the box? I saw two men carrying it away. They had a different Jolly Roger, a skull with sharp teeth", an old man with a beard wrapped around his neck like a scarf butted in to their conversation.

"That's the jolly roger of the Fanged pirates", Eric said and continued:  
"I've been listening to them with the black den-den mushi. They've been planning to conquer the Pipscreek Island which is a small island nearby."  
"They stole our rum!?" Thatch rose his voice, but inside he was quite happy that they had a perpetrator, so losing the booze wouldn't be his fault so much.  
"We should teach them a lesson!" Jico suggested, and this time everyone agreed.  
"Let's teach them not to mess with Whitebeard Pirates, yoi", Marco said with a grin that could be considered highly creepy.

"Did you say they were going to attack Pipscreek? I have many friends there, perhaps I should alarm them…" The old man worriedly asked them.  
"Don't worry. These unoriginal Fanged Pirates or whatever won't bother anyone soon", Thatch patted the old man on the shoulder, making the man sway like a timber before it fell.  
"Thanks for letting us know it was those wretches", Marco added. The pirates left the town, following after the other pirate crew, who were decidedly going to fall in the near future. No one crossed with the Whitebeard Pirates and survived. The old man even felt like pitying those poor pirates, who were strong compared to the simple townspeople in Pipscreek, but on a world scale they were weaklings.

* * *

I've always had a strong dislike for priests, that's why I didn't look for one for help in the first place anyway. But this one was okay. He had introduced himself as Roger, which almost made me laugh since he was nothing like The Roger, the Gol D. Roger one. He had short hair, no facial hair except for brows and lashes and a very simple monk-like cape. He was calm and could talk for hours about any subject which got really boring but the food he offered was nice. The only thing bothering me was one of the homeless people, the one that nearly drowned me into the river so I couldn't relax. I thanked for the meal and headed back to north to wash up in the river. I wanted to be clean to wear my new shirt. It was orange, a color I loved for its energy. I don't know if they knew I needed a little more orange color in my life but it cheered me up a bit nevertheless.

It didn't stop my search for the alcohol though, but it seemed the whole island was against me on this – there was no free booze anymore. I strolled towards the north. There were less and less people and buildings. After I walked past a boy who was dragging a disobedient goat I thought that I finally made it to the country side. It would take only few minutes for me to reach the river. The air current wasn't as salty anymore, instead it was a foreign mixture of different kind of smells. As I've been living near to sea all my life I found it the most homely.

The water burbled in the creek temptingly, inviting me for a swim but looks was deceiving. Instead of being a nice, refreshing bath, it was icy cold. The citizens said it started from a spring that was on the highest point of the mountain. Half of the year it was freezing, cooling the summer island but the other half it got warmer so it kind of created seasons for the island.

That all made no sense whatsoever from my point of view. How could a spring cool down island so much, we were in the middle of the sea, so shouldn't it's temperature affect the most? How could there even be summer and winter islands on the same latitude!?

I needed to follow the creek up to find the usual place I washed myself at. It was a nice small place where water flowed slower, hidden behind willows and large leafy trees. The wind rustled the leaves, but it was the warm, friendly kind of breeze made you want to lie on a flower bed despite the yucky bugs. It would have been a nice way to spend the time if I wasn't feeling so sick. The withdrawal symptoms made me sweat like a pig.

I started washing up, I would've been fast if I didn't need to wash my clothes as well. They took a lot of time to dry and so I washed the pants first, keeping the other clothes on to prevent myself for getting cold. I was minding my business until I noticed something floating in the water. A piece of cloth..? I pulled the piece of black cloth on the land, perhaps I could use it as a blanket. I expanded it, to study if it was usable. It had a big, white jolly roger on it.

Of course it was some stupid pirate flag. It had the symbol, human skull with sharp teeth on both sides so I didn't know if I could use it in the town. But, I guess it could be useful while I'm washing up or something, I thought and hanged it up on a branch. I was about to go back into rubbing my jeans clean but I noticed another thing in the water current. It was a small wooden box that caught my interest. It better be something useful.

It was farther away from dry land, so I had to take off my last clothes and swim to it. I carefully dragged it onto land and admired the treasure – it even had a lock on it and it was heavy so it must contains something valuable! I didn't of course have the key of the lock, so I searched for a rock just the right size, glancing at the river for time to time in case anything else floated to me. The creek remained empty, though.

"I guess my sobriety is rewarded well!" I hummed.

I rejoiced too soon though. I couldn't get the box open. The wood was sturdier than it seemed. I kept on trying to break it but to my despair it didn't even peel off. I was getting tired already. I used to be quite fit but I guess I lost the muscles already. I'm a loser that can't even open a damn box. I decided to give it another try, at least I couldn't be blamed for me lack of trying. The rock slipped and hit the lock instead, which clicked open immediately. Really? I've been smashing the box for so long my clothes had already dried.

I opened the top of the box curiously.

Ooh. It was rum.  
So much for sobriety.

* * *

Finally we get to see the Whitebeard pirates! Shame Nova doesn't get to see them yet, haha...


	4. Pipscreek's Alien 4

Gosh! It's been 4 months...? Time flies when you got to work. Luckily my holidays just started and I got to finish this chapter. Honestly, this chapter was really difficult to write. I need to practice writing action a lot! I hope it doesn't suck as much as I feel like it does... :D

* * *

I woke up to people talking. Apparently I had made my way to sleep at the park again, and I couldn't remember a thing how I got there. Damn that rum, I thought with a lopsided grin. Sigh, yesterday had started so well. But then I had to ruin everything by drinking the rum I found. Not all of it, just two and a half the half being too much. The stuff was a bit too strong, but the great, gentle taste was delusive. I hadn't noticed how fast I drank it. My memory was fuzzy, I didn't remember how exactly I got here. But I hadn't drowned myself so I guess things could be worse.

Then there was a 10 hour gap in my memory. For inexperienced that might seem like a huge gap of not knowing what I had being doing. But I knew you get used to things like these after a while. The only sure thing was that in those 10 hours I wouldn't have done anything useful anyway! But who cared? I was still far from sober, I had drank so much and I still had almost ten bottles to go. I was so going to waste the time by getting wasted. I opened the bottle and gulped down some of it. Mm. I was feeling quite good at the moment. This rare kind of feeling made me want to sleep well and have nice dreams.

"How long is it until we get to the town hall?"  
"We'll be there soon enough. There's no need to hurry, no one's awake at the moment anyway. They're so predictable, ha!" The pair of men laughed. I agreed in my mind, somehow the people in here followed their daily routines without a break.  
"That's why we chose this island to be conquered. The local police is used to deal with petty criminals only. They'll be easily defeated by Punta and the rest in no time. The island hasn't got a major contract with the navy either, nor with any pirate group so it's definitively our place to fix that! All we have to do is to make sure there's no way to contact the outer world. After that the island is ours."  
"And that's a piece of cake!" They laughed again. It had sounded peaceful at first, but now it reeked of bad intentions.

I lied quietly under the newspapers, wishing I was somewhere far from here, preferably home. So what if the pirates took over the island. It don't think it would get me home. Depressive thoughts kept nagging in my head, all thoughts became a grey hazy mess. Yeah totally not because of the alcohol.

Soon the men walked farther away without noticing me. Perhaps I should really do something. I could at least go warn the police or something, then use the havoc in my favor and hoard something more to drink…

Oh wait, I wasn't supposed to steal.

Maybe if the pirates were ruling the island it would be easier to get free drinks? However I doubt they had half the mercy the townspeople had against losers like me. So just perhaps it worked in my favor to go to the police station. I slowly started to make my way there, not forgetting to grab a bottle of rum with me and hide the remaining ones well – the townspeople didn't steal much but who knew about the other homeless people.

It was rather chilly like usually when the sky was clear at nights. If there was something that was exactly the same as in my old world, it was the stars. They were on their exact places where I could recognize the shapes easily. Looking at them gave me hope, but every time I looked back down the scenery was still the same dull town.

The police station's lights were on. It wasn't horribly unusual, but it was somewhat rare to see the officer awake late at night. The people on the island were like said, awfully predictable. I peeked inside from the window. I thought of knocking at it since it was closer than the main entrance. As I looked inside I quickly discarded the idea of knocking or making any sound whatsoever.

The sight was very alarming.

Mr. Police had been tied to a chair. He was soaked in something that was pretty surely blood. The rest of the polices lied on the floors unmoving, perhaps even dead. I didn't want to look at them too long. The rugged looking men were questioning Mr. Police about something, laughing meanly at once then suddenly kicking him. He bravely refused to say anything to the brutes. I could only watch from the sidelines, how the man who seemed to be the leader of the group shot Mr. Police.

Weirdly enough I didn't really feel scared. In fact I was a little angry, how dare they kill Mr. Police? He had a good heart, you don't go around killing people like that. For a second I was even sure Luffy would just appear and stop them from beating the man, but then I realized that they never visited any island called Pipscreek. The people were on their own, without a hero.

Bad things happened in this world too. I should know it the best, after reading about it for years. Out of these people who had born here, I was even more vulnerable; I did not know the rules of this world.

I did the most reasonable and ran away. I stopped when I was few blocks away from the police station and the buildings blocked the view to the police station. My heart felt like it was going to jump out of its place and it wasn't only because of my bad shape. I knew what I had to do, yet I wasn't sure why.

Why bother really?

Because…

I fiddled the jumper, tearing up.

Because even if my happiness was ruined and my dreams were destroyed, I couldn't just watch by as some brutes tried to do the same to these people.

Got to make mom and dad proud, you know?

I knocked on a randomly selected door in hurry.

* * *

It was a well selected door. A middle aged man came to open the door and spat a few carefully chosen curse words at me.  
"The pirates are attacking the island! I heard them talking in the park and as I went to the police station, they shot the police! There is no time to waste!" I whispered as angrily as I could. He didn't seem to believe me at first, but then he came to think it was better safe than sorry. He woke up his twin who lived with him with his family. They talked for a while with a worried faces, eventually coming up with a plan. The other twin would start waking up people to oppose the pirates. The other group would try to sneak in to the town hall, where the only long range den den mushi was, to call for help. The island had good relations with some of its neighboring islands.

The other patted his brother on the shoulder, who watched his brother with the exact same emotions.  
"Lets go", the other twin looked at me with an expecting expression. They weren't expecting me to come along were they? Hey, I warned them but it didn't mean I would risk my life fighting some pirates! I had no connections to this island, I was simply an outsider. No way. No. NO. NOOOOOOO-  
"Alright", I nodded eventually, despite the internal screaming that was totally against this. I guess that was the survival instinct, but hey you kind of stop listening to those voices after drinking.

We parted in silence, trying not to draw the pirates' attention to ourselves.

The lights of the town hall colored the whole street in warm colors.  
"The den den mushi is in the Mayor's office", other of the twins whispered, Charles or John, I still didn't know which of them came with me. They looked identical, especially since I was too drunk to focus my eyes. At least I could still walk pretty normally.  
"But the pirates are in there somewhere, too?"

There was loud crashes and few gunshots and then the lights were back off and the street was dark blue again.  
"Possibly."

I cursed silently and took a long sip of rum to get myself going. If I didn't die the next minute, I'd made a record how fast I could empty a bottle.  
"So what next?"

The man was about answer, but he then waved at someone. I narrowed my eyes and could barely detect two humans waving at us before they disappeared in the darkness again.  
"That was my neighbor and her husband. They're probably trying to get in from the back", he explained, scratching the back of his head, wondering what should we do.

"We should help them. It's obvious the pirates are stopping anyone from getting to the snail", I said.  
"Our only chance is to try to distract the pirates while they try to sneak in", he whispered. I nodded. It was a stupid plan. In fact it was the worst plan ever, but worth trying for him. He must have been thinking of his children's future and other noble thoughts, but I was just going along on a whim. I had a world to return to, so why would I endanger myself like this? It just felt like a reaaally good idea. He nodded as well, so it was a deal.

We made our way towards the city hall. There weren't gunshots anymore. Maybe they were waiting for us. But it was easy enough just to shoot us from the inside as we walked up the stairs, past the big white pillars onto the open door. We gave each other the last ensuring glance. I started singing whatever that came to my mind – which happened to be One Piece theme songs - with the loudest voice I had with my more than drunk accent.

I'm probably the stupidest person in the world. Or worlds.

"YO-HO-HO-HOOO, YOHHO-HOO-HOO~" I started singing the all-time favorite Bink's sake. When people meet me the first time they often mistake me as a quiet person for a reason I do not know, but in reality I had a really, really loud voice if I just let it out. So loud people could hear me coming from kilometers away, so I bet the brutes heard it too.

We marched inside the building to a beautiful hallway. The twin seemed to know his way around here, but I had never been inside the building. The man nudged me, pointing at up on the second floor. At first I noticed one man from the shadows, but soon it appeared that the whole bunch of pirates stood there. They grinned maliciously at us. We positioned back to back as the pirates circled around us.

"We could still flee?" I whispered. No one answered. I guess it wasn't an option, then. The pirates had real guns. I couldn't defy the laws of physics like the other people around here, so I cursed silently my luck and prepared to die.

"Do you think you, measly maggots could stand a chance against real pirates?" The head of the crew growled. He had some weird jewelries hanging from his ears. Calling them earrings would sounded too defined, those things looked like they didn't belong there.

"Not really", I said truthfully and finished her bottle. Now I was ready to die.  
"But what's with those damned things in your ears?" Being rude on purpose was pretty fun when you really didn't care about your life.

The captain's face lit up like I had said something he had waited for someone to say for ages.  
"Like my earrings? They cost me a buck-an-ear!" He said.

I snorted. No one else made any attempt to laugh.

"You seem like a useful lass. If you join me, I will spare you, but the other on will have to die."  
I felt the twin's presence clearly.  
"I'm afraid I can't accept the conditions of the job contract… Unless you're willing to negotiate about Pipscreek's indepence."

"How rude! But since I rarely meet someone as gifted on the humorous aspect, I'll be merciful – If you beat Crookhands and Dony, I'll let you live…"

I felt honored until the two named guys passed through the rest, they were huge. It would be more like fighting against two moving rocks than against people.

John or Charles, whichever it was, glanced at me encouragingly. Or maybe it was more of a "_there's no going back_" kind of glance.

Crookhands headed towards John/Charles. He did, as his name stated have crooked hands. The bones in his thin hands seemed like they had broken and then ossified askew. He seemed weaker out of the two, he had less muscles. I had wished the meanest thing about my opponent was his huge size, but then he bared his teeth. They were sharpened, making him seem more of a monster than a human. Oh god. Why had I been worrying about some stupid neighbors' lives, when mine was the most endangered?

Dony's punch came like a bullet to my guts, blasting me into distance. I'm pretty sure he rearranged my insides. I could probably only pray for the next hit to end my misery.  
"Dead with only one hit, how pathetic!" The group of pirates watching the show laughed, as I laid down unmoving.

The twin was putting up quite the brave fight, but it was hopeless. He'd never be able to win them both, not to mention the masses on the upper floor who were eagerly waiting for them to die.

I glanced at the bottle that had been in my hand. It had shattered, leaving a half of it in my hand and the rest of the shards scattered around.

Focusing all of my strength I picked myself up and charged towards the giant of a man. He had turned his back to me and he didn't turn around quickly enough to stop my desperate attack. I went for the head. Even as I jumped, I didn't quite reach – but neck was fine too. The sharp edges cut the skin roughly. He bellowed in pain before catching my hand and whipping me through the air on my back.

With loud oomph all air was slammed out of me. Morbid pain resonated through my back spine, from head to toes and again. Well, if I could feel pain it meant I wasn't paralyzed, right?

"Any last words?" The beastly man hovered over my body.  
"Nah, wouldn't want to say them to ye anyway", I gave a dry laugh, looked at the dagger he pulled out from his pocket and closed my eyes. He lifted me up from my collar like a bag of potatoes, I was unable to move an inch.

"There they are!"  
"Ok, I got it!" there were faint voices outside. Suddenly the villain's grasp of me was forcefully removed and the bastard was kicked off the building, making a hole in the wall.

"Lady, are you alright?" I squinted my eyes to have a look at my savior. As the dust slowly settled to the ground, the light got through.  
"Yeah, I'm dandy – OH MY GOSH, THATCH?" I gasped as I recognized the ridiculous hair shape. This is insane. I met a canon character. I bet his so strong he could kill a mere mortal like me with just a flick of the fingers – no, I bet ever worse he could kill me with just his crazy pompadour. He had insane aura of macho power which wasn't just him sweating. Actually, he hadn't even sweated over beating such a little measly delinquents, it was just… haki or something, and the whole picture was complete with a laid back attitude. He looked free. And nicer than I had thought. He was really robust compared to my nearly dead body but still not as overblown as many characters in One Piece. Heck, he was no Franky if you know what I mean.

"Yup, that'd be me", he chuckled, while helping me on my feet.  
"Alien-san, you're alright!" The twin sighed in relief. Crookhands had the same destiny as Domy, one of the Whitebeard pirates had finished him in one blow. These guys were really something…! Thatch &amp; co. came to save the day, eh?  
"Sweet. Thanks for saving my ass", I said in coolly, but inside I was beyond confused.  
"Like, yer really Thatch? Whitebeard Pirates Thatch?" He nodded, grinning with his teeth showing.  
"Don't worry Alien! He helped us, he's a good person." The townspeople said.  
"Well, nice to meet ye", I slurred, before my knees gave in and I slumped on the floor. To imagine… If we went in two minutes later… None of this had to happen and I could've gone to sleep… How utterly stupid. I shouldn't have tried to save the day.

"They… They are the Whitebeard pirates!"  
"We can't attack a Yonko! Haven't you heard about what happens to their enemies!?" The Fanged pirates were starting to panic upstairs.  
"Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off by them? They're real monsters!" One of the Fanged pirates said, trembling in fear, ready to flee. His captain remained fearless.  
"I bet that guy's all right now", he smirked, anticipating the fight. He couldn't be blamed for the lack of courage or ambition. What he could be blamed for is the awful puns he was making.  
"ATTAAACK!" He roared, encouraging his men into the battle.

It was no use. The exact words I was thinking of were _bitch will have his ass handed to him_ – but I didn't say a word.

I was busy trying to breathe. In, out… In, out…  
"Hang in there", the guy with the white doctor jacket said. I assumed he was one of the doctors.  
Breathe in… and out.

The fight was very anti-climactic.  
The captain of the Fanged Pirates was defeated with a single shot delivered by Thatch. His men surrendered immediately, and so the time of terror ended at Pipscreek Island as suddenly as it had started.

* * *

_Thatch's Pov._

After following the Fanged Pirates the Whitebeard pirates fourth division had raided their base at the center of the island, where the spring surfaced from the earth. They hadn't found the bottles they were looking for which was a big letdown. Fighting with the Fanged Pirates turned out to be a disappointment, too. It was simply no fun to fight guys who were literally blown away with a flick of a finger. At least Marco had decided to say on the ship which left something to do for the fourth division. Thatch's division had strolled to the town in boredom, saving a few natives while beating up those weaklings.

Even the pirate crew's boss was no challenge, he had finished the job so fast it might have been an overkill. After the fight despite how one sided it had been there was a party hosted by the townspeople. The pirates were celebrated as heroes, so the police department of the island continued negotiating cooperation between the island and the Whitebeard pirates.

The Mayor and the police commissioner had thought that to protect the island in the future they might as well be under the protection of the greatest pirate. They weren't stupid in the least, they had read the news with care and had already thought about strengthening the defenses, but the pirates had attacked before. The Whitebeards came at a favorable time, and the mayor especially took a liking to the captain. Or maybe it was the other way around. Thatch wasn't sure if it was true, but Eric had mentioned it on the den den mushi that pops and the mayor were old friends.

After a boring day at least Thatch could enjoy the party.

"Hey, I guess I should offer ye a glass", the lifeless looking woman Thatch had saved before said and poured him a cup of something.  
"Cheers!" They clinked the glasses. The taste was surprisingly familiar in a good way. Thatch took a good look at the bottle and realized in horror that this was The Rum, The special, 12 year old rum they had bought. So how did this drunkard woman have them? The citizens had called her Alien. Maybe she was tougher than it seemed. At least the other natives seemed enthusiastic about something she did.

"Where'd you get this?" He finally asked.  
"This? I found it from the river. Good stuff!" She laughed with a hoarse voice. Good stuff was an understatement. It was heavenly.  
"Shame that this was the last bottle", she said with a small pout. Thatch watched closely, his jaw fell down but no words were coming out as she emptied the glass on one shot. There went the rum that cost millions. Then she walked off without saying another word.

Thatch supposed it could be possible that when they attacked the pirates' base at the spring, the box of bottles could've fallen in the creek, from where the woman could have picked it up. He stared at his glass. There it was, the last drops of the most expensive rum they've ever bought. The fourth commander wasn't sure should he tell Marco about this. After a minute of thoughtfulness, he decided against it and devoured the last of the rum himself with a mischievous grin. It was too good to be shared with a ten more pirates.

Well, the case of the lost rum was closed, but he couldn't help but still feel curious about the woman. Her shaggy appearance stood out from the crowd of healthy looking villagers. She seemed like she didn't belong here and she didn't really want to be here either – yet she had fought for the townspeople.  
"Who's that woman?" Thatch asked the man who offered him snacks.  
"Do you mean Alien-chan?" the man gave Thatch a puzzled look.  
"Alien-chan? Why is she called that?" He chuckled lightly at the name.  
"Well… She claims that she came from a different world through a door that opened in the sky… That's why we call her Alien", he explained. Thatch's chuckles had grown to open laughter.  
"She seems like a fun person! There's someone I need to introduce her to." He said, but the thought was quickly forgotten as the people started dancing and pulled him along.


	5. Ties

It's been a month already… I haven't got any excuses, I've just been doing other things.

Thank you XxFire-phoenixxX! My biggest wish is to make people have fun with my writings 3 Also thanks to all my new favs and follows, it does inspire me to continue.

Somehow, I feel like there might be a lot of misspellings in this chapter...? Hope not.

* * *

There was furious knocking on the door. They couldn't have had a worse timing. Because of the voice I somehow regained my consciousness. I wiped the drool off my cheek and rolled around in the bed, ignoring the knocking but the poor excuse of a human being didn't stop hammering my door with all their might. I made my way to the door crawling, since my knees gave in if I tried to stand up.  
"What is it…?" My voice was came out as nothing more than a whisper.  
"You need to get up-" Mr. Police stated, sitting in a wheelchair but the cleaner lady of the motel slammed her hand on his eyes.

"You mustn't look! Alien-san, cover yourself!"  
"Oops, nip slip", I looked at myself. I had a blouse that had only he last two buttons buttoned. I struggled to button up some more but with shaky hands it wasn't that easy.  
"Ugh, whatever", I groaned, I think I've done more sinful things while my stay in Pipscreek.  
"Why do I have a friggin' badly drawn Whitebeard logo on my chest anyway?" And why wasn't I wearing bras? And where was my jumper? Some mysteries were never to be solved. I just rolled to my bed and climbed on it.

"No, Alien-san! You can't go to sleep!"  
"I most definitively can and will", I murmured.  
"No, no! You have to stay up!" she started buttoning the shirt for me.

"You can open your eyes, William", the nurse said. I guess she meant Mr. Police with the name. He cleared his throat and stared at my zombie self on the bed.  
"You need to attend the ceremony because you're going to receive a medal of honor."  
"Cool. Come get me in twelve hours", I said. I had finally slept well but then these rude people woke me up.

"It starts in an hour. You have already slept for 20 hours." Well, that was longer than I thought.  
"That must not be healthy!" The woman sighed.  
"I don't care", I showed my back at them.  
"You will receive it whether you want it or not", William aka Mr. Police said. I heard another footsteps coming to the room.

"ALIEN-CHAN!" Nana's voice boomed in the room so loud I had to cover my ears with my hands.  
"Nana-san, please understand, I want to sleep." I pleaded, not daring to complain to her, after all she gave me a nice shirt. Which I might have lost somewhere. Man, did I steal someone's shirt? I hoped I wouldn't get in trouble for it.  
"There's no way you're missing it!"  
"I don't want to go!" I groaned, didn't they realize how weak I felt at the moment! I could've slept for another 20 years with ease.  
"We're not asking!"  
"It's good for you!"  
"Do you see me caring about what's good for me!" I growled.  
"You helped us, now we're paying you back!"  
"I DON'T WANT IT!"

* * *

It was all in vain. Eventually I walked to the platform, staggering in my steps. The audience gasped every time I swayed which made a lot of gasps. I recognized the twins – or not exactly recognized, I still had no idea which was which. But they were in the audience, as well as their neighbors who had tried to call for help. Everything was well, despite my expectations.

I made my way next to Mr. Police, resting my hand on the wheelchair to support myself. I wasn't sure which one of us had more trouble standing up.

"At first we'd like to give this Medal of Honor to the first one to take action", the mayor announced. He didn't even have a mic, but the people were dead silent just to hear his words. After a pause he coughed, and I realized he was talking about me and I had to walk to the mayor for him to put the medal on my neck. I was honored, yet it felt strange, perhaps even unjustified for me to wear such thing. Maybe they wished I could live up to it and sober up.

I didn't have to heart to tell them it'd take a little more than a piece of gold to get me on my feet again.

The medal was heavy for a small piece of metal. It pressed against my chest I suddenly felt hard to breathe. The moment was soon over as Mr. Police started talking again.  
"We've also decided to give you a gift."  
I gave a weak smile. If he didn't get through the task soon, my legs would simply stop working.

* * *

I looked at the vast stack of belis in my hands that were threateningly sliding from my fingers. I knew all about Pythagorean theorem, Goldbach's conjecture and Riehmann hypothesis, but the strange currency still made me confused. I simply didn't understand the price levels here, the numbers seemed weird. I wasn't worried that I would get deceived in Pipscreek, but out there…

Yes, I was leaving. It had to be done. No, I hadn't magically adapted to this world and ready to go on adventures. For all I knew I had been spiraling towards my death anyway, so it didn't matter if I sped it up a bit and left the safe – well, relatively safe island of Pipscreek. If I at least travelled around, maybe, just maybe I would find The Door again. Dreams never die, do they.

I think many people would've given into the adventure. I knew what it was like to get excited about a whole new world. I too, wanted to be great explorer of my time and learn about new things. But what was the point of learning, if you didn't have any possibilities of sharing your information? What was the point of new experiences, if I couldn't share it with anyone? I had never realized how much I depended on my family and friends. I guess you never know what you have until it's gone.

And well, since they still didn't sell me any booze even though I now had money, I really wanted to leave. Living sober was unbearable.  
I put the money back into the back and strolled towards the police station.

I had only came to the police station to give my greetings to Mr. Police but as I waited him to come to the front desk, something in the book shelf peeked my interest.

"Can I ask you a question?" I glanced at the man who sat in the wheelchair. The doctors said he would recover but for now it was better to rest. It was rather interesting to see he wasn't shook by the incident at all. He was a very strong person, I understood. Not so much physically, but mentally. He deserved his place as the head of the policemen.  
"Of course. As you are the national heroine of Pipscreek I'm am of course alleged to answer your questions." He said it with a pleasant smile which wasn't fake at all. I couldn't contain my laughter so I burst into chuckling. Me, a hero of the island… When I didn't even know if its name was Pipsqueak or Pipscreek until a week ago.

"It's an enormous exaggeration", I simply shook my head, letting my now open hair flow in the currents of the air. How nice was it to keep it open once in a while when I knew I could have a shower when I wanted.  
"It's hardly an exaggeration if we say you were to first to defy the pirates who were trying to conquer the land. We don't reward people medals of honor for nothing."  
"It's hardly the truth either. I didn't defy the pirates first, I simply woke up those twin brothers first and then Thatch The Pirate saved me from getting killed", I said and took the book that seemed oddly familiar and started flipping through the pages.  
"It doesn't reduce the part you played in winning those villains-"

"Where did you get this book?" I hadn't been listening to what he said since the first page. The book I held in my hands was an aphorism collection, but what was the interesting part was the speaker of each aphorism. There were several very familiar names, such as President Roosevelt, Dalai Lama and such. I have learned that sometimes the people in this world reminded me of the people in my home world, but the best part was that under every name there was a tittle and the country or the continent they were from – Australia. United States of America. India. Spain. Denmark. Mongolia. I read the names of the places every time getting more and more excited.

There were more like me. I was right, the spark of hope I had hidden beneath turned ablaze.

"My grandfather has had it always, how come?" He managed to notice I was feeling really baffled about the book. I thought for a second whether I should explain it to him as I might be called Alien again, but then again the way I lived here didn't really matter if I could only get home.  
"Since you've called me Alien as well, I'll assume you know why I was called that. I don't care what you think about me being crazy talking things like being from another world but believe me, this book is from where I came from", I said and read the names of the places again and again in my head, like a mantra which made me believe it had existed and I hadn't been in the One Piece world all along, just mentally ill.  
Mr. Police just stared at me with his usual gaze, not judging but thinking silently.  
"You can have that book if you feel like it would help you", he said.  
"My grandfather was a quiet man. He came on this island after his twenties, but he never talked about his childhood. The book is the only thing he had when he came here."

"I don't think I can take this book, then", I said and looked at the owner's name written on the first page of the book. Winston Bright. Written in the western order. It wasn't a familiar name, but he had had this book years ago which was connected to my home. My imagination started to run wild – what if the man was from my home world also, and got casted into this weird world years before the storyline even started. He had started a new life here, on this small remote island. Maybe he was happy to have a new start or he had been miserable his whole life, longing for home and the only link was this mere book.  
"Take it, I think it will mean more to you than it ever will mean to me." He smiled a bit sadly. Perhaps he was thinking of his grandpa or he was sad because I was living up to my expectations about being nuts.  
"You know, if I was the polite type I would still refuse to take this. But I'm not so I'll take it", I grinned happily and hugged the book.

"Oh yeah, I actually came here to say goodbye to you. If someone asks for me, you can tell them that I left the island." I smiled shyly. Especially after seeing this book I need to look for any hints around the world of how I could get home.  
"I'm glad you seem to have found a new drive."

"I just needed a little support", I murmured sheepishly while fumbling the dirtied woolly pullover. There was a good moment of silence before the policeman asked:  
"When exactly will you be leaving?"  
"In three hours if things go right", I looked at the new wristwatch I had bought.  
"Should we see you off?"  
"No, no. I'll be fine on my own, I'm a grown up."  
"That's right, but… Even grownups need a little support sometimes. I hope you'll stay away from drugs." He said it with a wide smile which I answered to.

"Thank you for everything, Mr. Police!" I bowed deeply.  
"There's nothing to thank for, I think were even, Mjss Alien. If it wasn't for you taking action, I could've bled to death. If you find out something that would lighten up my grandfather's story you're more than welcome to write me a letter."  
"I will do that", I smiled genuinely. For a few seconds, we looked at each other. I had kind of saved his life and he mine. Now we had a strange connection. Exchanging letters – didn't that mean we were friends of sort? I tilted my head to the left in thoughts. As much as I preferred my old friends over any of the people here, I couldn't deny it; It felt like at the moment we were connected by a string of friendship. A string that tied me to this world. I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not.

* * *

I slept almost the whole trip to the neighbor island, despite the few excited young boys who would've wanted to talk me, the heroine of Pipscreek. By far, the island looked only like a giant iceberg floating on the water, but the closer we got the more details I could identify. The forests proved there were summers too, I just happened to get here when it was winter. At least that's how my logic worked, the world might surprise me once again.

Luckily I was well prepared, I had been told it's going to be cold here this time of the year. Despite my woolly shirt, long and thick coat which made me move around like a penguin it was still cold, but I had gotten used to it so it didn't bother too much. My thoughts were on other things entirely.

Good thing I had money with me now, there's no way I could sleep outside on this island. As soon as we got to the port I said goodbyes and left the ship, puzzled about what to do for next. The excitement I had felt before I left had worn down a lot. I got a room to myself from the local motel and checked my phone's network. Still none. The feeling of loneliness was more present than it had been on Pipscreek. It had already started feeling familiar with the place. I don't know if I could miss Nana-san, Mr. Police, the twins or the other people whom I barely even knew, but I missed interacting with them.

I sat down beside the window and watched as the sky got greyer and greyer. It started snowing and the whole horizon was colored light grey. Even though I had slept well the whole night I felt oddly heavy and tired. But I was free to take a nap wasn't I?

After few days of useless strolling in the town I had decided to try my luck. I hiked through the snowy forests and climbed on the peak of the hill, the highest point of the island. Still none, I thought, looking at my phone's network connection. It took me a day to get my ass in here and it had been useless. I guess I should get used to this. We aliens were rare because it wasn't easy to jump between worlds. I lit a cigarette, my newest bad habit and let the smoke flow to the south. The scenery worked like a therapy, I could feel the serenity flowing in with every breath.

Or maybe it was just the cigarette.

It was going to snow soon. I hopped on the sledge and slid down the hill in high speed. I felt like having a glass of rum or two.

* * *

"Hi Tess. The usual", I greeted the barmaid casually, my eyes glued to the sketchbook I held in my hands. Surprisingly the bar had the best lamps in town which made it the best place to draw since the island got really dark at nights. Tess brought me a glass full of rum just like I had wished. I did continue drinking against Mr. Police's wishes, but I had managed to keep the amount of alcohol slightly more reasonable. Only bottle a day. Sometimes two. I only succeeded in it by keeping myself busy with helping out the motel for a little money, reading the aphorism book over and over again and drawing, which I was getting slightly better at. I felt like I was finally recovering from the shock and the time of being drunk all day and night. The latest painting was already decent, although it lacked in the line art and overall composition, the color scheme described my feelings well. All grey.

I rewarded myself with a long gulp of the rum. It tasted bad but the taste never mattered. I put my sketchbook away, I never got anything done when drunk.

Another customer came to the desk so I turned myself slightly away from them, I didn't feel like talking. Yet. The effects of rum didn't affect me yet. Then the customer pushed me slightly with his elbow.  
"Ohho. Sorry", he said. I turned to look at him, not because I was especially angry, just slightly curious who it was.  
"It's okaYYYYYYH!" I answered before I got a look at him but when I realized who it was my voice became a high pitched scream. I fell off my chair in surprise.

A purple shirt hanging open, revealing a whitebeard pirates tattoo. My eyes traveled upwards.  
Broad shoulders, weird squarey pineapple shaped head with ever sleepy expression.  
"I-i-it's Ma-Ma-Marco the phoenix!" I stuttered, holding my chest because for sure my heart wouldn't stay in its place otherwise. He was real! Not a picture in the newspapers! I saw him live! And I have never been more confused!

He was supposedly admiral-level strong and could probably kill me with his little finger but on One Piece scale he wasn't all that impressive. He wasn't even that tall. Only a half a head taller than me. He was buff but then again, compare to some people in one piece world his muscles were kind of lame, even lamer than Thatch. Though I would probably die from just trying to hit those abs because it would shatter my bones.

Yet I was really scared. The truth that I was in this world was once again slammed against my face by showing some canon characters. So was everything I would say to them already decided? Did anything affect the story line at all? What if it all went wrong?

He stared at me his expression not changing a bit.  
"Are you okay girlie?"  
"Hahhahaaa… Yeah, I'm fine…" No I wasn't, but it was just my mental battles, nothing for you to worry about anyway.  
"Don't worry Heroine-san. This island is under their protection, they have no will to fight you if you don't fight them." Tess said and waved her petite hand dismissively, reassuring me they were peaceful. Yup, on this island I was called Heroine instead of the Alien but I was still kind of disappointed no one called me by my name.

"Heroine-san?" Marco lifted his brows if possible even higher.  
"Yes! She helped the neighbor island Pipscreek when they were under attack. They even gave her a medal of honor!" Tess talked so I didn't have to talk, good since I probably wouldn't have been able to pronounce anything without stuttering.  
"Yes, we've already met", Marco said, with dark grin that made my bones shiver from the deep inside. I didn't recall doing anything derogatory towards them, but his look made me feel like I would regret being born very soon. Tess didn't even seem to notice the difference in the first commander's attitude, but I was pretty much ready to pee my pants if it would've helped.  
"Ummm…. I don't remember meeting you?" Of course I remembered Thatch, he saved my sorry ass but Marco? No memories whatsoever.  
"That's strange, because I remember it was a very peculiar happening." The way Marco said it felt like I had a death sentence coming.  
"Bu-bu-but-"

"HEY IT'S ALIEN!" The crowd in the back of the bar suddenly recognized me and burst into excited howling, everyone talking at the same time.  
"Alien-chan? THE LEGENDARY JOKESTER?"  
"She's the one!? Her imitation of Marco was so hilarious I laughed for three days!" A man with cute chubby cheeks said. I had the feeling I had seen him before, but there was no memories of actually imitating Marco. Marco groaned and rubbed his temples. My eyes wandered to his tattoo again. I felt my stomach tighten.  
Oh yeah.  
I had woken up with a sketchy Whitebeard mark on my chest…  
Oh no. OH GOD NO.

"Wow, she teams up with me once and now she's the legendary jokester? I'm hurt", Thatch crossed his hands. Oh, he was here too? I glanced back Marco's face, then back at Thatch. I hoped the fourth commander was ready to save a damsel in distress again, in case Marco loses his temper.

"I don't think I properly thanked you for saving my life", I meekly said to Thatch.

"I thought I made it clear there's no need for thanking! Just sit down and have a drink with us!" Said Thatch with a broad smile. At first I hesitated, but I couldn't turn down a reason to get wasted now could I.

* * *

"I can't stop myself from laughing…. Mama-Marco! Seriously why haven't anyone said that before!" Thatch patted my back – more like whacked the breath out of me, making fun of me and Marco at the same time. I can't believe how casual I got with them but it's all thanks to alcohol. I had still enough control over myself to keep my mouth shut when needed however, so I didn't comment on the Mama-Marco.  
"Aish, Thatch. Come over here and I'll give you a beating", the first commander threatened half-heartedly.  
"Noo mama don't hit me~" The men laughed.  
"Hey, mind if I ask, who's the second commander of the Whitebeard pirates right now?" I suddenly asked. I wanted to locate myself somewhere on the timeline. I only knew I was somewhere before the Strawhats made an appearance. The men got quiet, and before I could take back my question Thatch answered rudely  
"Don't you read the news? She's been dead for a while." I gulped, embarrassed of ruining the mood unintentionally, but the information was interesting anyway. The previous commander was a she? And I was here before Ace had become a commander. I couldn't bring myself to ask if he had yet joined. I guess it wasn't my business.  
"I'm sorry, I didn't. I've been living under the rock I guess. I didn't mean to be rude. Let me pay for this round", I threw Tess a bunch of bills and asked her to bring us a few more bottles. When I was drunk, I was kind of generous.  
"It's alright. What makes you so interested about the second commander?" Marco asked me. His expression hadn't changed visibly but I had a feeling he had grown a little suspicious. He hadn't liked me from the beginning… I felt a little uneasy but being so sure about my worthlessness in this world I didn't feel like he'd think of me as a threat.  
"I just heard a rumor there's going to be a new one, but I thought it was kinda weird since I hadn't hear the previous had died", I shrugged.  
"Well, that rumor is a bunch of nonsense. Commanders aren't made in an assembly line, we are named commanders after we've proved to be good enough and willing to be one. If there won't be someone good enough, the place of the second commander will remain empty", Thatch's mood was raised us Tess brought more booze.  
"I understand. Honestly, sorry for ruining the mood", I nodded and let the conversation flow to nicer subjects.

Later at night, I discovered that I had drank much more much faster than I had intended.  
"I ought to go to sleep", I mumbled.  
"Someone definitively can't hold their liquor!" I heard someone talk. I smirked lazily, little had they noticed how much I had already drank.  
"I haven't practiced enough", I managed to force my eyes open and stand up.  
"Oi, Heroine-san! Are you leaving already?" I heard Thatch shout after me.  
"Yes, yes…" I half turned to them to wave my hand for a goodbye.  
"Hey, why don't you join the Whitebeard pirates so we can practice later?" He winked at me. I stared at him, taken aback. My surprised face turned slowly into an I-have-never-heard-a-dumber-idea-face. The rest of the crew seemed to approve of the idea as well, chanting my name and drumming the table with their fingers.  
"No." I scowled at the idea before realizing I may have been too blunt.  
"I'm thankful for that you're thinking I'm worthy enough to become your nakama… But that's not my place." I made my leave, leaving them chatting cheerfully.

I didn't feel so cheerful anymore. What could have happened if I joined them? The frown didn't leave my face until I fell asleep.


	6. Damsel in Depression

/Something went wrong the first time and the text got all messed up, but lets try again!

Long time no see...? I should probably just say that I'll update like four times a year or something. Anyway, this chapter... Hmm. It's been very hard for me. It's not a really important part of the story, but it builds up Nova's misfort- I mean character.

* * *

Was I late for school?  
I tried to reach for my phone which was usually on my desk beside my bed, but I couldn't even find the desk my eyes closed so I opened my eyes. The light made my head ache.  
Oh yeah. I wasn't home. I was still here, like I had been for six weeks or so.  
I growled in annoyance, I hadn't woken up to thinking I was home in a long time. It was hard to accept that it was only an illusion created by my mind. It was always a bad start for a day. It made me compare my life here to my life back then, and the old life was always better. I'm not telling this world sucks but none of my friends and family were here. If we were all brought here, I guess I wouldn't have been so keen on returning. But right now I felt more alone than ever in here and it was breaking me into pieces.

_Maybe if I had joined the Whitebeard pirates I wouldn't feel so lonely._

The reflection in the mirror proved it, too. I never had had very defined dark circles around my eyes but I had them now, darker than the black hole itself. I had become a little skinny, my cheek bones were highly visible and even my tan was gone. That might have been mostly because of the winter conditions of the island. But still there was no way of denying that even if I had had enough to eat and a regular shower for a while now I still looked unhappy and worn off.

I gulped down a few pain killers. I could clearly feel I had had a wild night. Well, I could blame it on the pirates. I smiled a little, the night had been fun and interesting. Actually, I had to admit it was the most fun I had while being here. Shame they would have to leave today…  
Shame Thatch would die…

I sipped water from my glass and gazed out of the window. The sun was shining, I guess the spring was coming to the island, even though it was only October. The islanders were starting to get a bit festive, wearing brighter colors and having fun more openly. In the port the Moby Dick was making its leave.

I had thought about it too many times already, but my mind came back to it once again. There was another option for me than the desperate search for a way to get back home, to start adapting to this place. To accept it was unlikely to find the door ever again. If Mr. Police's granddad was the most recent unlucky dude who fell here besides me, I might have to wait about 60 years for the door to appear again. I had thought I had to choose one of them to focus on, the door or the life in here… But perhaps I could try to live life the fullest while trying to find the door?

What was I so afraid of anyway? I felt like it wasn't because I was afraid of missing the door when I was having fun. It was more of the storyline problems…

Because we all know if we fell to One Piece world, we would try to change a few things. If we dropped in early enough, we would try to make it so such hard things didn't happen to our favorite straw hats, if later we wouldn't let Thatch or Ace die. But if I somehow managed to change things, wouldn't the story line get messed up and what if a chaos would break out? I would lose my head start if things went a different way. But what if things happened the way they happened no matter what I did?  
My existence would be meaningless.  
And that's really too sad for me to handle.

Giving up wasn't really what I have been taught. Even though something bad was very likely to happen, my mother would have never let me give up on trying to change the path of things. Ignorance is man's worst feature, if I knew something bad was going to happen, I had the responsibility to do my best to change it. Doing my best didn't mean I would have to sacrifice my own dreams for it…? Which were going home for me right now… But I definitively weren't doing my best to change things either. Actually I had done nothing.

But like the actor Audrey Hepburn, from Netherlands said it: _Nothing is impossible, the world itself says I'm possible!_ Not to mention what an American coach, Vince Lombardi said: _The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have_. Cheered up by those nice aphorisms I had memorized, I guessed I should do my best.

I would join them.

As soon as I had made the decision a long gone feeling of self-confidence came back to me.

I packed my stuff in the backpack in hurry and returned the keys of my room to Tess, who was currently wiping the bar tables.  
"Are you alright?" She saw my hurry.  
"No, I'm not. I think I'm going to join the Whitebeard pirates!" I grinned, a newfound enthusiasm making me feel slightly… happy.  
"Oh… Good luck!"

I ran to the port, trying not to slip on the ice. The cold air made my throat inflamed and I could taste blood in my mouth, but I didn't care. I just had to get there.

* * *

I should've remembered that this world is against me. I should've not got excited, I should've not decided to do something that is clearly impossible.

I couldn't bring myself to shout at them, or even wave my hand to get their attention. They were already too far away from the dock, so I tried to settle in with the crushing defeat. Maybe I wasn't supposed to join them. For God's sake, I was a fragile little woman who didn't even know how to hold a sword and they were the most feared pirates on earth. How I was even supposed to protect a commander with this? I was nowhere near of changing the path of things even if it was possible.

For the first time in history I shook the negative thoughts off my head and decided to follow them. They had said they were going to Water 7. It wasn't far away from what I've heard, so I might us well pay a visit. I only needed a ride. I wasn't going to give up now! The confidence on the decision still lingered on my mind, even if the defeat was crushing.

I did some research and it seemed only really junky ship was going to Water 7. It looked like it could sink the moment I stepped on it. I valued my life but I felt like I had to go now if ever – before I gave in to the depressing thoughts – before I killed myself.  
"Dear, are you sure you're coming with us? There's is going to be a storm", the old man pointed at the horizon, were dark clouds where circling. At least the crew seemed really nice.  
"I'll be fine. I need to go there, the sooner the better."  
"Alright. But you better stay in the cabin for safety", he nodded slowly.

Staying in the cabin for safety reasons is extremely stupid.

It took around four hours for us to reach the storm. The ship rocked on the waves so fiercely I slid around in my room. I had already prayed for every kind of creature possibly responsible for this. Though I had also cursed them. I mean, what kind of ship doesn't have life jackets? These guys were on a suicide mission and I had joined them on their journey towards their cold and wet graves.

I was so stupid to think I'd survive on Grand Line. The cold embrace of death felt like a relief to me. I prayed for my death to be painless.

But how would my family feel never knowing what happened to me? There was no end, no relief at the end of the tunnel. Just constant, even though fading wonder of what happened… Where did I go… Did I die by accident? Was it a crime? And I prayed for my survival, or at least for one last message for my family.

If I had been in my world, I wouldn't have felt so afraid for my life. At least I knew there weren't any sea kings in Atlantic Ocean. There could be terrible storms back home, but nothing compared to the likes in here. If the ship sank here, there was 0% possibility of me surviving. Even if I didn't drown in the impossible weather conditions and the sea kings didn't eat me, no one would come to look for us.

So little ship, hang in there.

But my cheers weren't enough to hold the ship together. A member of the crew came to my cabin. He was dripping wet, but so was everything else. There wasn't a dry place anywhere.  
"We need all men - and women on the deck", he said. He had looked lively when we left, but all color had washed off him. If we didn't all drown, there was a chance he'd have bronchitis and die.

Just as we were about to step on the deck, we heard a loud creak. I glanced behind and to my horror saw how the planks just cracked under the pressure and the water rushed in. I screamed the air out of my lungs, frozen on the spot. I would've sank with the ship, if the man didn't pull me on the deck. I was slammed against the wood and the air left was knocked out of me.

The ship had careened surprisingly quickly. What was this, MS Estonia?

"THE SHIP'S SINKIN'!"

It only took one wave to sink the ship properly. It pushed the prow underwater and we slid to the sea. The second wave washed off the last few who had been hanging onto the pieces of wood.

Being flushed to the sea flushed off all unnecessary thoughts. It was just me and the sea, and I was desperately trying to get to the surface. For the first two times as soon as I got my lungs full of air, the waves reeled me down to the dark water so I had to fight my way back up.

It was exhausting. I was tired, but not giving up.

When I finally got a look around, the ship was nowhere to be seen and neither were any of the crew. If possible, I panicked even more. Now I was really all alone.

There wasn't much time to think before the water pulled me over again. It was lucky that I was a good swimmer. My technique was pitch perfect, even though muscle-wise I had seen better days.  
When I surfaced a few times later, I finally saw a member of the fishing crew. He was waving largely. I assumed he was trying to attract my attention so I put all my strength into swimming towards him. Maybe he had something to help as float, a plank or something.

What seemed like hours later I finally reached him.

He was splashing the water around.

For a moment he sank underwater, but through inhumane efforts he managed to break the surface again.

He did not have anything to float with, and it was clear he was a no good swimmer.

The first person I found just had to be no one useful, hadn't it? Well, at least I wasn't alone now.  
I grabbed the man's hand and supported him. For first, he got scared. He probably thought some sort of a fish grabbed him, but after he realized it was a human person, he held onto me for his life.  
"The fuck, doesn't anyone know how to swim in here?" I growled.  
"What?" He was too tensed to hear. His pupils were widened. I wasn't sure what position had he been in in the ship, but he was not the captain neither the man who came to get her to deck. Who also had saved my life. That had happened a lot lately.

"You have to relax and breath in deeply to float", I instructed. Supporting someone else's weight wasn't an option for a longer time. I wasn't that good of a swimmer.

Swimming was useless. All we could do is to focus on breathing and holding on to each other. It didn't take long for us to lose the sense of time. The horizon seemed just gray all the time, I couldn't even tell what time of the day it was. We didn't talk, but at times, he hummed shortly, and I answered. That's how we knew we were both still alive.

In the meanwhile, I thought about mom.

She thought everything happens for a reason. Maybe it was so, but there could be no reasons for me to be here. Sure, One Piece world could learn a little about the stability of life from Norway. Everything was a constant struggle in here…

Why did mom's sister die so young? Otherwise mom wouldn't be the person she is today. Why didn't mom get to the University she wanted? Because she had much more to give as a mother of three children than as an architect. Why did mom lose her job in Oslo? Just to meet my father while driving through Norway to home.

So what was the reason? Become the person who sees reason in where everything is only chaos?

I can't see it, mom.

* * *

Probably a century had passed when I suddenly became aware of my existence again. The sea surrounded me with its darkness. I couldn't tell where the horizon was. And I – I had lost the man. Where was it? Did I let him drown? Because I was alone, I didn't fight anymore when something grabbed me.

I guess I'm lucky it wasn't a sea king.

I was pulled up, out of the water. Feeling the chilly air on my body was ravishing – I thought I had already experienced the most pain I could, but I was proven wrong.

The machine then dropped me on a harsh deck.

"Carefully!"

In seconds I was wrapped in blankets.

He was a tall, almost lanky man who would've seemed cold in a high class way judging from the way he carried himself – proud and confident – if it wasn't for his eyes. His dark eyes held the kindest look. He was a stranger to me, definitively not canon character, but somehow I had the feeling I had seen him before. I stared deeply into his eyes, feeling nothing but pure gratitude.  
"I'm Toby. Tesla Toby", he introduced himself in the traditional way, surname first. We shook hands. His hand was hot against my colder than healthy hands.

"Thank you", I whispered hoarsely, too tired to rise my head to watch in his eyes.  
"You're welcome." His voice was gentle. Since he didn't move farther away, I couldn't resist the temptation to lean on him. Lean into the warmth of this person.  
"Thank you for saving me", I cried against the person send from somewhere above, feeling like I had reached salvation.


End file.
